Waitrose and Deliveroo expand fast delivery partnership

Waitrose and Deliveroo have expanded their partnership in a move that will take the availability of on-demand groceries from the supermarket to a total of 220 stores.

The partners will add 70 new supermarkets by the summer, so that shoppers in 30 new towns and cities – from Lewes to Cirencester and Newark – will be able to order for fast delivery in as little as 20 minutes. Those locations go online today. The step up comes a year after the partners first expanded their five store trial to 150.

Waitrose says the partnership is bringing it new customers. More than a third of the orders placed on Deliveroo for delivery from the supermarket are from shoppers who are new to the brand with bestselling goods including avocados, blueberries, sourdough bread and milk.

James Bailey, executive director for Waitrose, says: “Our partnership with Deliveroo shows the strong demand for Waitrose products and that this is one of the ways our customers want to shop with us. People’s plans change and the service ensures we are even more flexible around our customer’s lifestyle, giving them more freedom to be more spontaneous about what they eat or drink and when.”

Waitrose is also trialling Deliveroo Hop, the rapid delivery service that brings groceries to customers’ doors in as little as ten minutes, in Bermondsey in London.

Carlo Mocci, chief business officer UK&I at Deliveroo, says: “It’s fantastic to be able to build further on our successful and long standing partnership with Waitrose, one of Britain’s best-loved brands. By expanding into these new locations, it will give our customers a greater choice of on-demand groceries and household essentials that can be delivered to their doors in as little as 20 minutes.”

Deliveroo, founded in 2013, is now moving well beyond the takeaway market and into delivery goods from groceries, from a growing range of UK supermarkets and stores, health and wellbeing goods, via pharmacies including Boots and Lloyds Pharmacy, and, most recently, stationery via WHSmith.

The fast delivery – and ultra fast 10 minute delivery – market is a fast growing area of UK retail, although as yet, Wavemaker research suggests, only 9% of the population uses it.